Polish aid

Over 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) stay in camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

In January 2020, the Polish Challenge Fund was launched to support the scale-up of Polish innovations and to increase the positive impact of development activities. With the financial support from the Polish Aid programme, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland and implemented by the UNDP Regional Hub in Istanbul, 5 selected Polish innovations are going to be effective drivers of change in Ukraine and Republic of Belarus.

Closed borders, compulsory quarantine, and a locked-down economy have put on hold numerous planned development initiatives for Ukraine. However, needs are piling up. They include not only tasks related to the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, but also those addressing its consequences which will hit the poorest most.

The whole world keeps fighting COVID-19. Poland not only looks after its own citizens but also supports its neighbours and Eastern Partnership countries. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs analyses the situation so that the support it provides is well-targeted and effective.

Despite restrictions imposed following the spread of COVID-19, Polish aid has not stopped its efforts to help establish mountain rescue structures in Georgia. It has been three years now that Georgians have received support from the ICAD Foundation.

In addition to the support that reached our eastern neighbours in the convoy, Poland will provide financial assistance to Belarusian hospitals, social welfare centres and non-governmental organisations that have turned to the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Minsk for help in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.

Bogdan Rudkowski, a doctor with Caritas Mariupol working in Donbas, writes about helping those in need in Ukraine’s front-line area:

In the early hours of 24 April 2020, the first of six lorries in the convoy reached the Grodno Regional Clinical Hospital for Infectious Diseases.

"Epidemics know no borders. That is why solidarity among neighbours is particularly important during this difficult time,” said Deputy Minister Marcin Przydacz during the handover of humanitarian aid to our eastern neighbour. “A friend in need is a friend indeed. Today, we put these words into practice,” he added.

The Polish government has allocated PLN 400,000 to support efforts that address the educational challenges in Venezuela. Poland’s contribution is enabling UNICEF and its partners to implement interventions that aim at identifying children at risk of dropping out from school as well as procuring and distributing educational kits to conduct recreational, psychosocial, and training activities.